This invention pertains to dental polishing, and more particularly, to a unique polishing-wheel/mandrel system which minimizes the possibility of cross contamination from patient-to-patient, or from patient-to-health-care-provider, or vice versa.
In recent years, the concern in dental offices about what might be thought of as person-to-person hygiene has mounted significantly. Accordingly, in various aspects of dental practice, new procedures and systems are being implemented and installed to minimize, as much as possible, the likelihood of person-to-person cross contamination.
One of the areas in which such a concern has existed involves the usual polishing-wheel station wherein various within-the-mouth appliances, such as dentures, are polished. In the past, it has been typical practice for a polishing wheel in this station to be used repeatedly in connection with the work done for many different patients, until the wheel is worn to a point where it must be replaced. Obviously, this kind of practice opens the door for possible cross contamination.
In this setting, a general and significant object of the present invention is to provide a unique polishing-wheel/mandrel system in which a polishing wheel is used for the work of only one patient, and then discarded for replacement with another wheel which will be used for the next patient.
Another object of the invention is to provide such a system in which successive wheels are easily and quickly installed and replaced.
Still another object of the invention is to provide such a system which includes a wheel-supporting mandrel that is universalized in the sense that it can be mounted for rotation selectively either upon the usual quick-release lathe chuck, or drive arbor, which are found in most dental offices.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the polishing wheel that is proposed is formed of a suitable, stiff, foam-like substance, such as a conventional, closed-cell, polyethylene foam material. Such material is extremely easy to work with, and low enough in expense to promote one-use-only disposability. The support mandrel for the wheel, which mandrel is easily sterilized between uses for successive patients, includes a central wheel anchoring station that allows for quick axial fitting and removal of a wheel. A wheel mounted in this station is prevented from rotation relative to the mandrel by axially extending prongs which puncture and penetrate a wheel mounted in the station.
In a modified form of the invention, and especially to accommodate special situations involving significant lateral (axially directed) polishing forces, a reversible, attachable/detachable, and reusable, retainer ring is employed.
These and other objects and advantages which are obtained by the invention will become more fully apparent as the description that now follows is read in connection with the accompanying drawings.